Eve, testing the burgundy chunks before they went into our first batch of test cookies for the Wild Cookie Extravaganza (April 1st, 1-3pm, be there!)
A little silliness while baking round two of our cookies. We’re having fun with this contest!
“These are the Cheez-Its in my bowl, in alphabetical order!”
Impish little boy
He’s holding a 3D paper zebra that he made. :)
Dear Tessa,
Thank you for taking the time to fill out the Wild Cookie Extravaganza survey – you have been selected as a cookie baker for the event!
What will you be doing on Sunday, April 1st? I hope you’ll join me at the Wilder Center for a Wild Cookie Extravaganza!
The Wild Cookie Extravaganza takes place on Sunday, April 1 from 1-3 at the Wilder Center and in addition to being a fundraiser for the Upper Valley Haven is an opportunity to show off your best cookies and maybe take home one of the 3 generous King Arthur Flour awards.
Sometime between now and then I need to decide on a recipe and bake 5-6 dozen cookies. I’m sure there will be a few dozen test rounds in there as well! :) Now I really wish my whole family was coming up that weekend! At least I know they’d vote for me ;) What kind of cookies should I bake?
Yes, this is the day after Eve’s Birthday Extravaganza, aka, Pet Show Party, and the weekend after a 5-day swim lesson for the kids, and these are the weeks that I have to sign and mail 225 letters for Good Beginnings, and get ready for a 5K next month… Over-commit, much?
We eat so much yogurt in this house that I form think about making it from scratch. I don’t though because the yogurt maker costs a lot and past experience shows that when I make thing from scratch (like bagels, for instance) the kids don’t eat it. Not always, of course, they love the bread and cookies I make, but I was worried to make the investment in a yogurt maker with unsure results. That changed this week when I bought one from a lady in a parking lot! :) Kidding, kind of. She was selling it, unopened, as part of their kitchen decluttering. The price was unbeatable so I bought it! :)
Following the instructions exactly is a bit onerous and takes about 16 hours (1hr hands on). That’s what we did yesterday, and by “we” I mostly mean “I” while the kids played outside! Last night I was pretty ready to scrap the whole thing.
The yogurt maker, minus lids. We made maple yogurt as our first batch.
However, this morning I said “Who wants to try some fresh homemade yogurt?” and my anxious eat said “Oh, I do!!” In all seriousness, no sarcasm at all. Then I remembered that the final step was it let it chill in the fridge for at least three hours. More waiting…
Lex put the lids on for me and put them all in the fridge. He was eager to sample.
This afternoon we dug into them as soon as we got home. Eager Lex went first. He loved it! He even said it was better than store bought yogurt!
Yum!
This is Eve's opinion on things in general these days. (I like the cute little cups too!)
I haven’t done the math yet, but I suspect that at $1.09/ea for the store stuff we buy, this is probably going to save me some money! Tomorrow we try an alternate method that should speed up the hands on time significantly. Hopefully that too comes out good!
In an animal-cracker induced madness last night I signed myself up for a 5K. One that includes “a mother of a hill!” Eek! Positive self-motivation doesn’t seem to work for me, so I thought I’d try negative self-motivation. :) That worked well last time. It sucks showing up for a race when you KNOW you can’t run it! What’s a girl to do? Practice! Today I went out for my first run of the season (my treadmill runs at the gym don’t count because they are boring and totally uninspiring!) I can barely call today’s outing a run, more like a slow jog with extended periods of walking, but it’s a start!
Source: chasefear.com via Tessa on Pinterest
I even managed to talk Alan and Rosy into running with me!! Anyone want to babysit on May 5th? I’ll treat you to free (virgin) margaritas!
PS. This 5K is for Good Beginnings, but not MINE. It is a franchise type thing and they serve different counties and have different services. Still a good cause though!
My princess and I had a lovely morning at the science museum today, including a special lesson on shadows.
The count-down to Eve’s birthday has begun. She has been talking about it for months and awhile ago we started making her a birthday chain. The idea she had was time-consuming though and at that time we were 52 days away from her birthday! Needless to say we did not finish the count-down chain. However, we got 24 “cakes” made on the chain so when I realized we were 24 days away from her birthday I “remembered” and got the chain back out! She was excited and we hung it up. Now each morning she cuts off one of the cakes as the count-down continues. She loves waking up and announcing “It’s time to cut a cake!” :) It makes me giggle every morning.
First thing in the morning, cutting a cake. :)
She also made herself a birthday list last month. She hasn’t added anything to it since the original effort, but here it is.
Dog, Flowers, American Girl, Panera Card (she has been practicing her lowercase a, which often looks more like a q)
Last week we started planning her birthday party. It will be a Pet Show party and all of her friends will bring their favorite pet (stuffed animals only!) We’re going to have a pet show with awards (fluffiest pet, most colorful pet, etc.) and pet-themed games and projects. We are expecting quite a crowd! That will be on her birthday morning, then we’ll have a family party (pizza and cake, pets optional) in the afternoon/evening. Then we will all crash! I have lots of great ideas in my head, now I just need to find the motivation (somewhere, somehow!) to get it done!
Needless to say she got a lot of attention this morning! In addition to the costume she walked around saying quack, quack!
We had a sweet little lion come visit this evening.
It mauled Lex! So much for sweet!
There's my sweet lion, in between roars!
ROAR! Lions through the years.
We have a playdate going on here, right now. One of Eve’s friends and one of Lex’s friends. I thought they would all play nicely together, or perhaps apart, and I would get some work done. Turns out we’ve hit the classic boy/girl playdate age. Eve and her friend are upstairs playing with blocks and Lex and his friend are supposed to be playing in the office. Instead, on the whim of his friend, they keep running upstairs and busting open the door. The girls scream and shriek appropriately, then the boys laugh and run away. Classic.
I just had to bust up the game because Eve’s friend did not seem to be enjoying the game. In fact, she looked like she was about ready to leave.
I like playdates here because I love seeing how the kids all interact and who has what ideas. I stay out of their way, for the most part, but I love to quietly overhear. :)
… … … …
Here are a few pictures from the playdate…
We hung up Eve's birthday chain today. I wanted a nice picture of Eve standing by it, but this is the best they gave me! See the chain hanging from the ceiling by her friend?
Pure happiness.
The girls...
... and the boys.